Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend

'''Charles "Turnip" Townshend" (18 April 1674-21 June 1738) was Secretary of State of Great Britain from 1721 to 1730, succeeding James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and preceding William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington. He was nicknamed "Turnip" due to his cultivation of turnips.

Biography
Charles Townshend was born in Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England on 18 April 1674, the son of Horation Townshend, 1st Viscount Townshend. Townshend's father was involved in politics as a Whig Party member, and Townshend's parents divorced while he was young. Townshend attended the University of Cambridge before entering Whig politics, and he became Secretary of State under George I of Great Britain. Townshend retired from politics in 1730, and he turned his attention to agriculture back at his Norfolk plantation. He reated the "four crop rotation system" of growing, which advocating rotating the crops on a four year basis and varying the crops in definite order on the same ground. Soil nutrient remained dense, and the land was not left fallow; harvest increased in yield, with 11.5 mllion quarters of harvested wheat in 1705 growing to a harvest of 95 million quarters of wheat in 1765. In addition, livestock no longer needed to be slaughtered before winter, as clover growth kept them alive, and agricultural output increased in both quantity and quality. Townshend died in 1738.